Thirty-seven British companies, including small and medium sized enterprises and start-ups, will get a share of the £19 million Energy Entrepreneurs Fund.

The cash boost is designed to help the UK meet its net zero target by delivering decarbonisation solutions, as well as potentially creating hundreds of green jobs and triggering private sector investment

The winning projects include:

• Offshore wind robotic inspectors: Inductive Power Projection Ltd, based in Cornwall, which will use their £444,080 funding to develop an innovative high-frequency wireless charging demonstrator to power floating off-shore wind autonomous ‘robotic’ drones, to inspect and maintain offshore wind farms
• Solar architecture: Build Solar Ltd (a spin out from Exeter University) received £271,933 to develop a low-cost glass brick called Solar Squared for buildings, collecting solar energy via the walls themselves, allowing buildings to generate their own power
• Offshore wind communications: Jet Engineering System Solutions, based in the south-east, received £255,754 to develop a 5G floating network enabling high-speed, dependable long-range communications at sea to aid wind farm installation
• Decommissioning oil wells: Clearwell Technology Ltd, based in Scotland, received £223,872 to design a thermal pipe milling tool for well plugging – a green tech that could transform how oil and gas wells are sustainably decommissioned

Also announced today, the government will launch a £5 million Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans competition this summer. The competition will support groups of industrial businesses such as glass, cement and ceramics manufacturers, join together in ‘clusters’.

Along with other key stakeholders, including local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), these ‘local industrial clusters’ will develop coordinated and collaborative decarbonisation plans that will kickstart their journey towards a low-carbon future.

Winners are set to be announced in later in 2023, and further detail about the competition will follow in the spring.

For more information about the drive to net zero, book onto the EfW Conference 2023 here . Registered EfW members get discounted tickets, find out more here.